Slow down for Alaska highway's striking scenery

From our vantage point high above Muncho Lake in northern British Columbia, we look out over a sprawling emerald-green lake framed by treeless jagged peaks. Beyond is a wilderness filled with snow-capped mountains and deep green valleys, where Stone mountain sheep, caribou and wood bison roam.

We are on a ridge that flanks the original Alaska Highway road cut at Muncho, a route long since abandoned to a straighter highway below it. Driving the Alaska Highway, 2,400 kilometres from Dawson Creek, B.C., to Fairbanks, Ala., has been the dream of outdoor adventurers since it opened in 1947.

Most make the entire trip in three days. That is not hard to do today: The road is paved in all sections except where there is construction, so that cruising at 110 to 120 km/h is not out of the question, even for big RVs. But too many people are in a hurry, often overlooking wonderful side trips that offer even more spectacular scenery and wildlife.

Last July, Northern B.C Tourism's Heather MacRae and I explored some of these gems on our way toward Alaska. Here are a couple worth checking out.

SIKANNI CHIEF FALLS

Many Alaska Highway travellers consider the northbound stretch from Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson, B.C., to be the least interesting part. These falls break that stereotype with a 30-metre plunge by a river whose source is in the Rocky Mountains. Not only are the falls spectacular, but the surrounding cliffs are home to mountain goats, a species rare to the foothills.

Heather and I drove the unmarked 16.9-kilometre dirt and gravel road that bisects the main highway at Kilometre 267 west to a small parking area (not suitable for large RVs), then hiked along a 11/2-kilometre marked trail through a boreal forest dominated by black spruce. Deer and moose tracks criss-crossed the narrow path. Finally, we reached an overlook near the falls, framed by deep green forest.

After one night at Sikanni RV Park and Cabins and another in Fort Nelson, we continued north.

FLOWER SPRINGS POND

Certainly one of the most beautiful side trips off the Alaska Highway is to Flower Springs Pond in Stone Mountain Provincial Park. The pond lies in a valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains and fed by glacier runoff and underground springs.

The trail to Flower Springs starts at the Summit Lake Campground (Kilometre 597, and, at 1,295 metres in elevation, the highest point on the Alaska Highway).

It is a 10-kilometre round trip on tundra in caribou country.

About two-thirds of the way to the pond, we had an added treat: a mountain caribou approached.

Finally we came to a rise overlooking Flower Springs and the descent to the pond.

Our next side trip was just eight kilometres down the highway, so, after hiking back to our vehicle, we overnighted at nearby Stone Mountain Safaris and continued on the next day.

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